Smart card readers have been developed in many kinds of designs. Different methods are known to fixedly mount the contact elements of a smart card reader in said smart card reader and more specifically in a contact support of said smart card reader. Frequently, the contact elements of the smart card reader are fixedly mounted in the contact support of the smart card reader by surrounding the contact elements with the plastic material when injection molding the contact support.
For instance DE-38 32 588 A1 discloses the mounting of contact elements on or in a contact support by detent means.
Smart card readers are frequently built with contact elements having soldering contacts. These soldering contacts are adapted to be inserted into holes (for instance in a circuit board) and are then dipped in a supply of solder material for providing connection. In this context problems occur both with contact elements which are fixed in the contact support by molding (see FIG. 9) and with contact elements which are inserted into the contact support (see FIG. 10) and are held therein for instance by detent means. As far as the contact elements are concerned which are fixed in the contact support by molding (see FIG. 9), a good mechanical strength of the soldering contacts is achieved. However the automatic production of larger numbers of such contact supports or contacting apparatus is costly. If the contact elements are inserted into and frictionally held in the contact support as is shown in FIG. 10, then a load pulling on said soldering contacts could cause a destruction of the contact elements.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a smart card reader, i.e. a smart card contacting apparatus as well as contact elements therefore, such that an automated insertion of the contact elements is easily possible.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a contacting apparatus and contact support of said contacting apparatus, respectively, wherein after insertion of the contact elements the mechanical characteristics are similar to those of contact elements mounted by the injection molding process of the smart card reader and its contact support, respectively.
It is another object of the present invention to increase the efficiency of the placement of the contact elements in the smart card reader.